Cuomo: I guess you extremist pro-lifers can profess your views in New York after all

posted at 12:41 pm on January 21, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo claims that his extemporaneous attack on supposedly “extreme” Republicans got “distorted” by the New York Post. Of course he respects the pro-life and gun-rights Republicans! They just “have no place in New York.”

Oops — there I go, distorting Cuomo again by quoting him, emphasis mine:

You’ve seen that play out in New York, their SAFE act, the Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act. It was voted for by moderate republicans who run the Senate. Their problem is not me and democrats, their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives, who are right to life, pro assault weapon, anti-gay, is that who they are? Because if that is who they are, and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York. Because that is not who New Yorkers are.

The anti-gay remark, it should be noted, applies to Republicans who hold the same position on same-sex marriage as Barack Obama did until the middle of 2012. And according to most polls, the abortion position is hardly extreme, especially among Republicans. Cuomo is certainly free to consider these positions incorrect and argue for his own positions. Instead, he told the press that he felt those political positions were in essence illegitimate for public consumption.

This is part of a recent trend toward exclusion and blacklisting that used to be … bad. At least, I remember when the entertainment industry lectured us for decades that blacklisting over political and personal beliefs was about as un-American as it gets. These days … not so much:

However, the outrage industry swung into action almost as soon as GQ hit the publish button. Instead of debating [Duck Dynasty star Phil] Robertson on the merits of his argument, or at least on the presentation of 1 Corinthians, people demanded that Robertson get fired for what is basically mainstream Christianity — and the kind of provocative speech that got Robertson hired in the first place. Amazingly, A&E at first buckled under the pressure, announcing that Robertson was indefinitely suspended. That is, Robertson was suspended until A&E viewers made their displeasure known by tuning out. When it became clear that the economics of the situation favored inclusion rather than exclusion, A&E reversed course and reinstated Robertson without losing a frame of Duck Dynasty production.

Now let’s turn our eyes to California, which will hold its gubernatorial election in November. Incumbent Democrat Jerry Brown already has a challenger — Tea Party conservative Assemblyman Tim Donnelly. Donnelly cut an amusing bilingual web ad with Maria Conchita Alonso, best known for her star turn in Moscow on the Hudson. Alonso provided snarky Spanish-language translations for Donnelly’s arguments, including “We’re screwed.”

Cutting an ad for a Tea Party candidate, however much tolerance that exchange displayed, was a bridge too far in San Francisco. Alonso had been cast in a production of The Vagina Monologues, which Alonso would have performed in Spanish. When her producer discovered her support for Donnelly, Alonso lost her job. “We really cannot have her in the show, unfortunately,” producer Eliana Lopez told a local TV station. “Doing what she is doing is against what we believe.” She’s out of work because she endorsed a Republican.

Unfortunately, the blacklist lesson taught by the entertainment industry for so long doesn’t appear to have sunk in for the entertainment industry, but they’re not alone, either. On the opposite coast, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared anti-abortion and gun-rights Republicans not just wrong,but persona non grata. Incensed by Republicans running against his SAFE Act — which was so badly written that it had to be immediately amended to keep from disarming the police and pretty much everyone else — declared opposition to the law “extreme,” and worse.

That’s not to say that this impulse is limited to the Left. We’ve seen plenty of demands from the Right for progressives to get fired over outrageous remarks, too … but those don’t seem to work as well. Besides, the hypocrisy of this occurring in the entertainment industry — especially in Alonso’s case — and the extreme rhetoric coming from a sitting governor that tells mainstream opposition that they have no business in the political mix are both something new, and worth challenging.

“Now I want to tell you something – I was born and raised in New York,” Hannity said. “I want you to know that and I can’t wait to get out of here. I really can’t. I don’t want to pay their 10-percent state tax anymore. I live in the second-highest property taxed county in the entire country in Nassau County. I can’t wait to sell my house to somebody who wants it. I can’t wait to pay no state income tax down in Florida or Texas. I haven’t decided yet, but I’m leaning Florida because I like the water and I like to fish.”

“Gov. Cuomo, I’m going to leave and I’m taking all of my money with me – every single solitary penny,” he added. “And by the way governor, because I work here – there’s a whole bunch of people that work for me and benefit because I do two shows. And I guess maybe some of them will be out of work, governor. I’m sure you’ll take care of them.”

Glenn Beck made the same threat, and these declarations serve the effort well to hold Cuomo accountable. I’m not so certain that packing bags for friendlier pastures would be the best response, though. There are lots of good reasons to leave, but Cuomo should be the least of those described above. While it’s not terribly attractive to stay in New York, an exodus of conservatives would mean ceding the field to Cuomo and his angry, immoderate governance. We need to be missionaries in the field, not retreating back to the fortresses.

Hounding Alonso to quit the production was dumb, though. Debra Saunders at the San Francisco Chronicle is right that while her critics have every legal right to boycott the show and Lopez would have had the right to fire Alonso, “in a tolerant society that values open debate, critics don’t go after someone’s acting career because they want to muzzle her point of view.” Saunders is also correct to note that on the issue at hand, immigration, Alonso’s views aren’t as conservative as Donnelly’s.

It’s also a little self-defeating to try to limit the audience for any production of The Vagina Monologues — the show’s powerful message against sexual abuse and domestic violence and for women’s empowerment only has an impact if people see it, and the more viewers of whatever political persuasion, the better for the people trying to get that message out. Alonso tells Kelly that the play is “fun,” but it’s a message she obviously believes in, too.

The attempt to fire Robertson wasn’t “local activism,” though, and while the effort in Miami was debatable, it also wasn’t aimed at a widespread domestic political movement, either. Nor was it in Cuomo’s case. Be sure to read all of Peter’s essay, and mine too.

Academic liberals tend to regard universities as “our place,” in which others may stay as long as they behave. Now Cuomo has applied this attitude to the whole of the Empire State. From a provost, this is a violation of academic freedom. From a government official, it is an attack on genuine pluralism.

Cuomo is clearly frustrated with opposition to elements of his social agenda (his abortion rights expansion bill was blocked last summer). His life would be easier without a vocal minority of critics. So he is telling various Catholic bishops and priests, Republican politicians and conservative groups that their opinions are outside the norms of state politics. Cuomo has reached an advanced stage of political polarization: regarding one’s democratic opponents as unfit for democracy. I imagine the feeling will now (in some quarters) be returned. And so the spiral continues — sometimes leftward, sometimes rightward, ever downward.

While James Madison would not be surprised, he would not approve. “In all cases where a majority are united by a common interest or passion,” he warned, “the rights of the minority are in danger.” A majority, he argued, can easily become a “faction,” seeking “illicit advantage.” This is dangerous in a democracy, not only because the rights of individuals are important but also because diversity of opinion balances factions against each other. Madison hoped that U.S. leaders would help check the passions of factions rather than inciting them for political advantage, so that “reason, justice and truth can regain their authority over the public mind.”

Cuomo speaks in Albany; Madison spins at Montpelier.

And now Cuomo is spinning, too, trying to argue that he didn’t say what he said.

While it’s not terribly attractive to stay in New York, an exodus of conservatives would mean ceding the field to Cuomo and his angry, immoderate governance. We need to be missionaries in the field, not retreating back to the fortresses.

High taxes and liberal governance are worth withstanding for whatever reason…

This is a trial balloon. We are entering the advanced stages of demonizing Christianity and conservatives. Should this not be too painful for Cuomo look for this to be a national democratic theme. This has been developing and breached several times now since Obama and the democrats have held the majority and the hard push is just starting to begin.

They know the lies cannot continue to work so the next stage is to silence the truth.

Responding to President Barack Obama’s comment that he wouldn’t let his hypothetical son play in the NFL because it’s not safe, radio host Mark Levin said he wouldn’t let his theoretical progeny be an ambassador in the Obama administration.

Replying to Obama’s comment in an interview with The New Yorker, Levin said it’d be safer to play pro football:

Sean and Glenn, and many, many others, should do a Magpul, and exit stage RIGHT. Let the beast feed upon itself. They’ll sleep better for it, and be around infinitely nicer people, wherever they land. Leave the nasty cesspool of vermin to the Marxists and redistributionist thieves that really wanna be there, like my miserable, grossly liberal, Aunt, who truly is the devil incarnate.

Once you’ve covered yourself with the blood of the unborn and proven your worth to Molech you can proceed further into the temple. People like Wendy Davis, Andrew Cuomo, O’Malley, Hillary, Terry McAuliffe, Rahm Emmanuel all covet the power that the current High Priest Barack Obama has.

Cuomo is just working on proving his worth and devotion to be a disciple in the Progressive religion.

Since the Progressive Left will be celebrating tomorrow the murder of 55 million unborn in the last 44 years this might be a helpful reference point for those unfamiliar with how history just repeats itself. We have different tools to kill babies but the effect is the same as it was thousands of years ago.

In the Masoretic text the name is “Molech”; in the Septuagint “Moloch.” The earliest mention of Molech is in Lev. xviii. 21, where the Israelite is forbidden to sacrifice any of his children to Molech.

Similarly, in Lev. xx. 2-5, it is enacted that a man who sacrifices his seed to Molech shall surely be put to death. Then, curiously, it is provided that he shall be cut off from the congregation.

In I Kings xi. 7 it is said that Solomon built a high place for Molech in the mountain “that is before Jerusalem.” The same passage calls Molech an Ammonite deity. The Septuagint as quoted in the New Testament (Acts vii. 43) finds a reference to Moloch in Amos v. 26; but this is a doubtful passage.

In II Kings xxiii. 10 it is stated that one of the practises to which Josiah put a stop by his reform was that of sacrificing children to Molech, and that the place where this form of worship had been practised was at Topheth, “in the valley of the children of Hinnom.” This statement is confirmed by Jer. xxxii. 35.

From II Kings xxi. 6 it may be inferred that this worship was introduced during the reign of Manasseh. The impression left by an uncritical reading of these passages is that Molech-worship, with its rite of child-sacrifice, was introduced from Ammon during the seventh century B.C.

What’s hilarious, is the commercials I see airing that are promising Tax Free Zones for the next ten years to any business that sets up shop in New York State. It will be just like my city’s attempt at that. The businesses that were exempt couldn’t move out fast enough once that status ended.

Again, one could point to the fact that if taxes are so damn good, why offer the tax free zone? Shouldn’t there be a zone where you can pay double the taxes if you open a business there?

While it’s not terribly attractive to stay in New York, an exodus of conservatives would mean ceding the field to Cuomo and his angry, immoderate governance. We need to be missionaries in the field, not retreating back to the fortresses.

That’s easy to say when you aren’t living there and paying taxes. I live in CT and I will get out of this state as soon as I can but it won’t be for many years, unfortunately. The deep blue states are lost and in fact are metastasizing into the red states and ruining them too.

That’s easy to say when you aren’t living there and paying taxes. I live in CT and I will get out of this state as soon as I can but it won’t be for many years, unfortunately. The deep blue states are lost and in fact are metastasizing into the red states and ruining them too.

jnelchef on January 21, 2014 at 1:09 PM

Exactly. I want as many conservatives in my great state of Texas as we can get. Isn’t each state supposed to be an experiment unto themselves? If you tax people into oblivion, chances are they won’t stay. They are already flooding us with illegals.

I think states are going to begin to move away from central government. Look at pot. It is illegal on the federal level, but two states have said “f%ck off” and made it legal on their own. Why can’t we as Texans do the same thing with issues important to us?

The anti-gay remark, it should be noted, applies to Republicans who hold the same position on same-sex marriage as Barack Obama did until the middle of 2012. And according to most polls, the abortion position is hardly extreme, especially among Republicans. Cuomo is certainly free to consider these positions incorrect and argue for his own positions. Instead, he told the press that he felt those political positions were in essence illegitimate for public consumption.

This is a trial balloon. We are entering the advanced stages of demonizing Christianity and conservatives. Should this not be too painful for Cuomo look for this to be a national democratic theme. This has been developing and breached several times now since Obama and the democrats have held the majority and the hard push is just starting to begin.

They know the lies cannot continue to work so the next stage is to silence the truth.

Skwor on January 21, 2014 at 12:57 PM

I’m reminded of the vicious booing of God at the most recent Democrat national convention. Scary stuff indeed.

While it’s not terribly attractive to stay in New York, an exodus of conservatives would mean ceding the field to Cuomo and his angry, immoderate governance. We need to be missionaries in the field, not retreating back to the fortresses.

Makes no sense. Why stay somewhere you are not welcome? The idiots just voted a Sandinista into the NYC mayor’s office. The place is gone, and conservatives in NYC have somewhere else to go. It’s not like NY is ever going to go red in an national election.

In Nazi Germany this technique of repeatedly attacking good innocent people for a political end of destruction was known as scapegoating, but I suspect it is more like pre-Christian Rome where we can correctly call it persecution. It has many faces–all evil.
Saul Alinsky and his hate-filled followers are just playing a very old game.

the Vagina Monologues is an activist leftist production; it’s not like a guest shot on a sitcom. She should have known what she was signing up for and. While I’d be outraged if she lost a “normal” role and thought the whole Duck Dynasty thing was BS, when you sign up to be part of a “movement,” different rule apply.

Hopefully, what most Republicans take away from this is that Democrats realize our internal divisions are our greatest weakness as a party.

We call their constant attempts to divide us as a party “a clue”.

Marcus Traianus on January 21, 2014 at 1:35 PM

While they call themselves the “uniters”, no kidding.

NO one has divided the land more than they have, obama on top of the heap. The hued one was going to “unite the country” and now he plays the tiny violin “oh, they hate me because I’m black”, poor idiot puppy. Wait, puppies are way smarter.

I will be voting against Dewhurst. Sen. Patrick is currently leading the challengers. I don’t know enough about them (challengers) to know who would be the better choice. My Rep. is Tryon Lewis. He isn’t running this year. It is between local business man Austin Keith and Brooks Landgraf.

Houston with cousins in about 100 other counties around the state. Most in the piney woods, farmers around Colorado City/Sweetwater/Abilene and some oil field trash in Midland/Andrews. DFW is represented too.

What’s scary is when you link to the Gerson article and read the comments, you see just how many leftists are gleefully agreeing with Cuomo. The ignorance, malevolence, and downright hatred of these people is truly sick. I once wondered how Hitler could have come to power. Now I know.

Once again we see the reality behind ‘tolerance’ and openness for ‘debate’ and ‘compromise’ from a progressive-fascist politician.

It’s ironic that he’s inviting New Yorkers to vote with their feet – particularly since at the end of 2013, New York was surpassed by Florida as the 4th most populated state in the US.

This is also from the same governor who continues to cripple the NY state economy by his continued opposition to the use of fracking within the state – despite his own government’s studies that show fracking will not only not damage the environment, but generate jobs and wealth.

Yea!! New York, I love the way they think, they give us great people like Cuomo and our very own moderate Republican Mr. King. I hope our next President comes out of the Northeast. Then, they can teach the rest of us how life is lived correctly and how government is supposed to function.

While it’s not terribly attractive to stay in New York, an exodus of conservatives would mean ceding the field to Cuomo and his angry, immoderate governance. We need to be missionaries in the field, not retreating back to the fortresses.

Ed, I live in NYC. Believe me, between Di Blasio and Cuomo, it is no picnic.

If you are pro-life, and only 30% of New Yorkers are pro-life (causing one to wonder exactly how that question was phrased precisely)you do not belong in New York.

Does the you do not belong in New York apply if 51% of New Yorkers believe one thing and 49% do not? What is the threshhold?

What if 30% of New Yorkers believe they should not have to pay such high taxes? Does that mean they have no place in New York? If 70% of people feel this way, does that mean politicians putting these high taxes in place have no place in New York?

If 30% of people think they should be allowed to drink large sodas, do they have no place in New York?

What’s hilarious, is the commercials I see airing that are promising Tax Free Zones for the next ten years to any business that sets up shop in New York State. It will be just like my city’s attempt at that. The businesses that were exempt couldn’t move out fast enough once that status ended.

Liberals. Blithering idiots.

JAGonzo on January 21, 2014 at 1:06 PM

I know we’ve been having a good laugh over those ads too. NY is so great for business Hardee har har. That’s why so many are closing up shop and leaving in droves. The libtard way is to say the complete opposite of what it true like claiming how tolerant they are of opposing viewpoints. I live Upstate, my district is solid Red, full of Conservative extremists the ones King Andy says aren’t welcome and frankly I can’t leave fast enough. Only 4 years and 10 months to go and I’m out of this shithole state.

And now Cuomo is spinning, too, trying to argue that he didn’t say what he said.

I’m not a big believer in boycotts but it seems to me that organizations holding conventions, individuals planning vacations, and (of course) businesses seeking new locations should all take into consideration if you really want to spend money in a state that doesn’t value tolerance.

If you value traditional families, the First and Second amendments, and all life……. well then New York hates you.

Cuomos’ father didnt run for POTUS because he was in deep with the Queens NY mafioso. Too much dirty laundry. Google Queens Borough President Donald Manes. He came out of the Democrat Party machine in Queens as Andrews dad did.
Stabbed himself to death with a kitchen knife after a visit from a local mafia bagman. Mario Cuomo was cut from the same political cloth.

There are lots of conservatives in upstate New York, who are never noticed by tunnel-vision of the ignorant masses living in the NYC bubble who have never ventured west of the Hudson River or north of The Bronx. But since NYC has a larger population than the rest of the state, upstate New Yorkers have no voice in how they are governed.

Maybe the solution is for the rest of New York State to secede from NYC, and suddenly Cuomo would be struggling to govern a purplish-red state. Or maybe he could run against DiBlasio for mayor of NYC.

I constantly tell my wife how blessed we are to have been born into the lives we have. She doesn’t understand what I mean by that. Hopefully everything goes well with your exodus. What is holding you back?

At least Californians can rationalize that the great weather and beautiful scenery make up for the socialist train wreck of a government. But NY doesn’t even have that.

Hayabusa on January 21, 2014 at 1:56 PM

The 4 seasons. And it is absolutely beautiful in the Adirondack Mtns where I live. I take it you’ve never been…anywhere. Perhaps you can read a brochure and try learn something. It’s a big state. Over the long weekend I managed to downhill ski, ice fish, ice skate and shot skeet. Also shot a coyote over deer bait. NY would be a great place to live if the filthy commies didn’t ruin it but they did. btw I lived in Northern Cali for 8 years, the weather sucked, the ocean freezing, cost of living too high and the hippies stink.

I tend to agree with Cuomo – conservatives don’t belong in NY any longer – so they should all take all of their wealth and jobs and tax payments to a different state.
I’d love to see how fast NY collapses if all of the people Cuomo doesn’t like – i.e. conservatives aka the people who pay all the bills – actually did pack up and leave.

As a native New Yorker, who fled the state for the South in 1974, here is the lowdown on NY. That state has been trending left with the passage of each year. When upstate aided downstate in electing Hillary as Senator, that was the moment that I knew there would be no political reversal for NY.
My 74 year old brother, who has lived just north of NYC, all his life, has finally had enough, and is putting his house on the market in the Spring, to move somewhere, where he can be free to exercise ALL of his constitutional rights.
I live in Texas, where Governor Cuomo and his ilk will have to pry my gun from my cold, dead hands.

I am firmly in the camp, that eventually the country will split. It will take some massive event, but it will happen. We are polar opposites, the left and the right. What is going on in New York is only getting worse. The sitting governor of a state is telling people he disagrees with politically, that he does not want them in the state, with zero objection from anyone except the people he is attacking. New York is just the beginning.